Launching into HVAC Design Engineering--Part II

• Published in: ASHRAE transactions Vol. 127; no. 2; pp. 345 - 352
• Main Author: Rock, Brian A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE) 01.01.2021; American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers, Inc
• Subjects: Air conditioning; Architecture; Building codes; Building construction; Careers; Colleges & universities; Continuing education; Contractors; Control equipment; Cost estimates; Design; Design engineering; Designers; Engineering firms; Engineering schools; Engineers; Green buildings; HVAC; HVAC equipment; Indoor air quality; Security; Skills; Systems design; United States > US
• ISSN: 0001-2505

Congratulations on considering earning, or the pending completion of a degree in engineering! Next is to decide upon a specific engineering career, likely one that will provide you with security for decades and the associated prestige. While there are many fields to investigate, new heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) engineers are needed worldwide and the supply is very limited. Those who learn HVAC's principles for designing, manufacturing, installing, commissioning, servicing, or controlling equipment and systems, for example, gain extremely marketable skillsets that usually assure career-long personal success and security. This is especially true now for HVAC system design engineers in the United States. While there are a handful of college engineering degree programs with HVAC emphases, most others typically don't teach the subject at all; often newly hired engineers must instead be trained in HVAC through self-study, formal continuing education, "on the job," or through a combination of these approaches. This paper along with its Part I is intended as an introduction for students, recent graduates, and career-changers who lack significant exposure to our field. Senior HVAC design engineers and others are encouraged to share these two papers with those who are entering or might consider our area in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM); these papers may also be useful to established international engineers seeking to practice in North America.